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Comparative Criticism and Translation

Oxford Comparative Criticism and Translation is a research programme based jointly at The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities and the Centre for Comparative Criticism and Translation at St. Anne’s College. We are supported by a generous donation from Maria Ferreras Willetts, and by the John Fell OUP Research Fund. We run seminars, workshops, a postgraduate-led discussion group and an annual conference. We stage public events, such as Oxford Translation Day, and edit a book series, Transcript. We are currently collaborating with the AHRC-funded programme in Creative Multilingualism to pursue research into our concept of Prismatic Translation. See 'OCCT People' below for who we are.

Comparative Literature is changing. Its Eurocentric heritage has been challenged by various formulations of World Literature, while new media and new forms of artistic production are bringing urgency to comparative thinking across literature, film, the visual arts and music. The resulting questions of method are both intellectually compelling and central to the future of the humanities. To confront them, our research programme brings together experts from the disciplines of English, Medieval and Modern Languages, Oriental Studies, and Classics, and draws in collaborators from Music, Visual Art, Film, Philosophy and History. We prefer the phrase ‘Comparative Criticism’ to ‘Comparative Literature’ or ‘World Literature’ because it draws attention to the role of the critic in determining the corpus to be explored and the manner of its exploration; and we flag ‘translation’ as a process fundamental to our work, and indeed to all communication.

In our first phase, under the title ‘New Grounds for Comparative Criticism’ (Jan-Sept 2013), we explored the role of translation in a global comparative literature, the elements and aspects of texts that support comparison, and the challenges of comparative thinking across literature and the other arts. Our conclusions can be sampled in our Living Library; a special issue of the journal Comparative Critical Studies will appear in 2015.

During 2013-14 we pursued four main lines of research: 'Languages of Criticism'; 'Cultures of Mindreading: the Novel and Other Minds'; 'Intercultural Literary Practices'; and 'Translators and Writers'. For more detail, see our Research page. We also staged various public events, including Make an Aria and the first annual Oxford Translation Day, in collaboration with the Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize. The year's explorations culminated in our conference, Minding Borders, 10-11 September at St Anne's.

In 2016-17 we are continuing work on Translation and Criticism, Prismatic Translation, and Fiction and Other Minds, and we launch a new strand on Cultural Forms in Comparison. See the events feed on our homepage for this year's plans; sign up here to receive updates and follow our blog.